How's it going Muggles, Squibs, and Chudley Cannons fans?? Welcome back to Week 3 in Harryville.

Can you believe we're finishing up Book 2 this week? I, for one, am excited. Thats because once we hit book 3 it's smooth sailing towards literary greatness (in my opinion.) We're starting to leave the "kids book" world behind after book 2, and once we hit books 3 and especially 4, there's no turning back.

So this week we'll be reading the end of Chamber of Secrets. Will Lockhart get his comeuppance? Is Malfoy the Heir of Slytherin? Why are there so many spiders? And what the heck is that voice our daring hero keeps hearing? Tune in this week to have all your questions answered!

And then it's on to the first 7 chapters of the much loved Prisoner of Azkaban. Here's the summary from the back of the book to whet your appetite:

For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts...he's at Hogwarts." Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of the magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNSirius Black ... Sirius Black ... now where have we heard that name before?

I also found something awesome this weekend. I used to love reading the blog MarkReadsTwilight. A 20-something guy read through the Twi series chapter by chapter. He pretty much hated it ... but that's another story. Now he's reading Harry Potter and blogging it, and it's fantastic and hilarious! ("Snape, go choke on a rutabega" anyone? ) He really loves it so far. He finished book 1 and starts book 2 tomorrow. I wish I could rec this for the virgins, but unfortunately he knows a few spoilers and he mentions them But for the long-time HP readers, I highly recommend it - cause nothing's better than reading an HP virgin's theories. (Seriously, we love you virgins!!! Speculate as much as you want in the comments, I love hearing what you think will happen! )

Movies! Jodie and I were the only ones who turned up to watch HP 1 but we had a great time, as we are quite good at entertaining ourselves And we'll be watching Chamber of Secrets next if anyone else wants to join, maybe in 2 weeks? We'll probably switch up the day and time though. Here's the trailer for CoS. (Ok, and Prisoner of Azkaban ... just cause it's freakin awesome and I can't wait to read it.) Movie spoilers, of course!!

[spoiler=Movie trailers][/spoiler]

Final announcement: One of our own, a certain J9, is heading to Wizarding World of Harry Potter (aka HP theme park) this week!!! We're so excited for her! She's the first flatmate to go, and we're counting on her to bring back a full report Have a wonderful time J9 and drink some butterbeer for us. Bottoms up!!

Okay readers - you know the drill. Accio yourself some hard pumpkin juice and a peppermint humbug or two and get crackin! (And BONUS: 10 points to Gryffindor if you can use the words "codswallop," "bugger off," "you great prune," or "bloody hell" in normal conversation this week ... and tell us about it!)

Whoo hoo hoo! I can't wait to start PoA! As much as I love them, and as quickly as they go by, the first two books draaaag along for me. We're gonna be hitting the good stuff soon! In the meantime I have some observations on the first couple chapters here...

1. I love the term 'apoplectic with rage', because damn, that's pretty effing angry.

2. Every time I read the scene in Dumbledore's office where Hagrid is wildly testifying that no way Harry could have attacked Justin (Hagrid went ranting on, waving the rooster around in his agitation, sending feathers everywhere.) and Dumbledore tells him he doesn't believe Harry cursed anyone..."Oh,"said Hagrid, the rooster falling limply at his side. "Right. I'll wait outside then, Headmaster."And he stomped out looking embarrassed.. I laugh. Out loud.

3. You're going to hear me say this a lot this summer, but I love Fred and George. They have a very similar sense of humor that I do. For example, the way they tease Harry about being the heir of Slytherin and just make it seem so totally ludicrous. Kinda like the way I keep beating that dead horse of the photo of us alleged nonstens and our devil horns.

4. Are we really supposed to believe that someone as brainy as Hermione can't tell the difference between human hair and cat hair?? What kind of cat is it?

MOD NOTE: Some of you newbies ask questions/bring up points/wonder aloud about certain parts of the book. Some of these things us old timers can't comment on because anything we say would be a spoiler. So we'll treat them as rhetorical questions and ignore them. Although there were some things I didn't quite understand at the end of my first reading, I didn't have any unanswered questions by the time I was done book 7. So if you think we are ignoring your question or observation it might be that we are just plain unable to comment.

I just love Prisoner of Azkaban, its really where things start to get very dark indeed... so much fun! And the ending of Chamber of Secrets is fantastic too... definitely has you going "oooooh!" LOL almost wish I could go back to my first reading of the series again!

The only one of the movies I've seen fairly recently is Half-Blood Prince when it came out on DVD a few months ago (and at the cinema last Summer) will have to sit down and watch the others over the next few weeks... might have a HP marathon one night and see how many I can watch one after the other. Don't think I'll be able to watch any with you guys though the time difference is just too big (think its between 5 and 8 hours ahead of you depending where in the US you are) but hope you have a ball watching them anyway!

Oh and LOL I think I probably say "Bloody Hell" and "Bugger off" in normal conversation most weeks - most usually at work! Must be a UK thing I guess! Can't say "codswallop" is very likely, though I have in the past and not sure I've ever used "Great prune!"

J9 I can't wait to hear all about Wizarding World, and see the pics too... it looks absolutely amazing! Was saying to hubby the other night how great it looks but a bit too expensive to get over there to it right now... unless we can win 1000 Galleons prize money in the Daily Prophet lottery that is!

Last edited by Kaet on Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

JodieO wrote:Whoo hoo hoo! I can't wait to start PoA! As much as I love them, and as quickly as they go by, the first two books draaaag along for me. We're gonna be hitting the good stuff soon! In the meantime I have some observations on the first couple chapters here...

MOD NOTE: Some of you newbies ask questions/bring up points/wonder aloud about certain parts of the book. Some of these things us old timers can't comment on because anything we say would be a spoiler. So we'll treat them as rhetorical questions and ignore them. Although there were some things I didn't quite understand at the end of my first reading, I didn't have any unanswered questions by the time I was done book 7. So if you think we are ignoring your question or observation it might be that we are just plain unable to comment.

I just assumed you were ignoring us.

I finished CoS last night. As I was nearing the end, it seemed familiar to me. I think I did see at least part of the movie because I remembered who the bad guy was as soon as he was introduced.

I liked CoS better than SS, but I'm looking forward to PoA. I started it last night. I always hear people talking about GoF (probably because of Rob) or DH or OotP , but I never hear anyone talk about PoA. I was beginning to wonder if it was one of the weaker books in the series. But after reading your posts, I'm getting excited for it. I'm looking forward to moving towards a more mature Harry, Ron and Hermione. (Not that I didn't enjoy the first ones.)

JodieO wrote:Whoo hoo hoo! I can't wait to start PoA! As much as I love them, and as quickly as they go by, the first two books draaaag along for me. We're gonna be hitting the good stuff soon! In the meantime I have some observations on the first couple chapters here...

MOD NOTE: Some of you newbies ask questions/bring up points/wonder aloud about certain parts of the book. Some of these things us old timers can't comment on because anything we say would be a spoiler. So we'll treat them as rhetorical questions and ignore them. Although there were some things I didn't quite understand at the end of my first reading, I didn't have any unanswered questions by the time I was done book 7. So if you think we are ignoring your question or observation it might be that we are just plain unable to comment.

I just assumed you were ignoring us.

I finished CoS last night. As I was nearing the end, it seemed familiar to me. I think I did see at least part of the movie because I remembered who the bad guy was as soon as he was introduced.

I liked CoS better than SS, but I'm looking forward to PoA. I started it last night. I always hear people talking about GoF (probably because of Rob) or DH or OotP , but I never hear anyone talk about PoA. I was beginning to wonder if it was one of the weaker books in the series. But after reading your posts, I'm getting excited for it. I'm looking forward to moving towards a more mature Harry, Ron and Hermione. (Not that I didn't enjoy the first ones.)

Hee! It was either ignore you or give something away. There have been times when I've had to log off the forum entirely because I wanted to respond, but couldn't do so without there being a spoiler issue. Would you like to come up with a safe word so you'll know we're ignoring questions on purpose?

PoA is my favorite of the movies and is one of my favorite books. It introduces two of my favorite characters and it's when everything starts to kick up a notch. I can't wait!

I finished CoS last night. As I was nearing the end, it seemed familiar to me. I think I did see at least part of the movie because I remembered who the bad guy was as soon as he was introduced.

I liked CoS better than SS, but I'm looking forward to PoA. I started it last night. I always hear people talking about GoF (probably because of Rob) or DH or OotP , but I never hear anyone talk about PoA. I was beginning to wonder if it was one of the weaker books in the series. But after reading your posts, I'm getting excited for it. I'm looking forward to moving towards a more mature Harry, Ron and Hermione. (Not that I didn't enjoy the first ones.)

Hee! It was either ignore you or give something away. There have been times when I've had to log off the forum entirely because I wanted to respond, but couldn't do so without there being a spoiler issue. Would you like to come up with a safe word so you'll know we're ignoring questions on purpose?PoA is my favorite of the movies and is one of my favorite books. It introduces two of my favorite characters and it's when everything starts to kick up a notch. I can't wait!

You could just give the big smiley and I'll know it's something you can't reveal. And now that I know it's killing you not to reveal anything, I'm going to ask as many questions as possible.

Believe it or not, as much of a Twilight whore that I am, I have remained innocent (mostly) since we started reading. I have not clicked on one spoiler box. I do know at least on huge plot twist that comes later, but I found that out long before I started reading the books.

JodieO wrote:Hee! It was either ignore you or give something away. There have been times when I've had to log off the forum entirely because I wanted to respond, but couldn't do so without there being a spoiler issue. Would you like to come up with a safe word so you'll know we're ignoring questions on purpose?PoA is my favorite of the movies and is one of my favorite books. It introduces two of my favorite characters and it's when everything starts to kick up a notch. I can't wait!

You could just give the big smiley and I'll know it's something you can't reveal. And now that I know it's killing you not to reveal anything, I'm going to ask as many questions as possible.

Believe it or not, as much of a Twilight whore that I am, I have remained innocent (mostly) since we started reading. I have not clicked on one spoiler box. I do know at least on huge plot twist that comes later, but I found that out long before I started reading the books.

Awwh, good girl! You'll be much happier letting events unfold before you instead of being spoiled ahead of time. =)

From now on whenever there is a post I can't respond to I'll just answer with a dark mark. You'll be learning of them soon!

Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

Ooh excellent idea with the dark mark posts JodieO... reminds me of JKR's site as she was writing the books she used to hide spoilers behind them. Like you its been killing me not to be able to answer some of the questions in some way at least, cos they're the exact questions that we used to debate on sites like mugglenet. This is an excellent way of showing that the questions haven't just been overlooked.

Kaet wrote:Ooh excellent idea with the dark mark posts JodieO... reminds me of JKR's site as she was writing the books she used to hide spoilers behind them. Like you its been killing me not to be able to answer some of the questions in some way at least, cos they're the exact questions that we used to debate on sites like mugglenet. This is an excellent way of showing that the questions haven't just been overlooked.

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

I like this. At least now I don't feel like I asked a stupid question that everyone is overlooking because it's so ridiculous.

Having said that about the Dursley's, is it wrong that I did laugh at some things they did? I felt like it might be inappropriate, but I actually laughed out loud when Uncle Vernon told Aunt Marge that Harry attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. I don't know why, but it just struck me as funny.

I did like the fact that Harry was a little feisty with the Dursley's. Despite spending all of his life under their control, it's nice to see that he's not afraid to speak up and he gets some good come backs and one-liners in on them.

And why do I get the feeling that there may be more to Sirius Black than what we're being told. . . . . . . . am I killing you yet, Jodie

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

I like this. At least now I don't feel like I asked a stupid question that everyone is overlooking because it's so ridiculous.

Having said that about the Dursley's, is it wrong that I did laugh at some things they did? I felt like it might be inappropriate, but I actually laughed out loud when Uncle Vernon told Aunt Marge that Harry attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. I don't know why, but it just struck me as funny.

I did like the fact that Harry was a little feisty with the Dursley's. Despite spending all of his life under their control, it's nice to see that he's not afraid to speak up and he gets some good come backs and one-liners in on them.

And why do I get the feeling that there may be more to Sirius Black than what we're being told. . . . . . . . am I killing you yet, Jodie

I LOVE READING THESE BOOKS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T READ THEM YET!I like reading your predictions and insight on things.

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

I like this. At least now I don't feel like I asked a stupid question that everyone is overlooking because it's so ridiculous.

Having said that about the Dursley's, is it wrong that I did laugh at some things they did? I felt like it might be inappropriate, but I actually laughed out loud when Uncle Vernon told Aunt Marge that Harry attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. I don't know why, but it just struck me as funny.

I did like the fact that Harry was a little feisty with the Dursley's. Despite spending all of his life under their control, it's nice to see that he's not afraid to speak up and he gets some good come backs and one-liners in on them.

And why do I get the feeling that there may be more to Sirius Black than what we're being told. . . . . . . . am I killing you yet, Jodie

Yes, you are killing me... but I love it!

I love that despite being so downtrodden all this time that Harry is really quite mouthy with the Dursleys. =)

Oh yay! I'm glad we're getting close to moving on to book 3. I'm midway through it, but I put it down (to re-read WFE) but also to not get too much further ahead of the book club. I was going to re-read books 1 and 2, but it was too close to when I first read them. Anyway, I'm looking forward to contrinbuting more in the coming weeks.

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

I thought the same thing, TOFT. I don't understand why he keeps having to go back there.

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

I like this. At least now I don't feel like I asked a stupid question that everyone is overlooking because it's so ridiculous.

Having said that about the Dursley's, is it wrong that I did laugh at some things they did? I felt like it might be inappropriate, but I actually laughed out loud when Uncle Vernon told Aunt Marge that Harry attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. I don't know why, but it just struck me as funny.

I did like the fact that Harry was a little feisty with the Dursley's. Despite spending all of his life under their control, it's nice to see that he's not afraid to speak up and he gets some good come backs and one-liners in on them.

And why do I get the feeling that there may be more to Sirius Black than what we're being told. . . . . . . . [size=50]am I killing you yet, Jodie

[/size]

Yes, I thought this also. His name sounds familiar but since I'm borrowing the books from the library, I don't have the first two books to flip back and look to see where it may have been mentioned before. I will just have to keep reading and ride out the suspense.

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

I thought the same thing, TOFT. I don't understand why he keeps having to go back there.

Ugh! I got to the part where he finally gets fed up and leaves and winds up staying at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley. Everyone there treats him so well (I might have "awwwed" at the part where the ice cream shop owner brought him free sundaes every 1/2 hour).

There just better be a darn good reason for making him stay with the Dursley's.

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

Hahaha! Love the Dark Mark! great idea.And that reminds me ... once we get a little farther along, we MUST have a "terrible Harry Potter tattoos" post. Cause sadly, they aren't just limited to Twilight ... although, I must say, I've never seen a Twi tattoo I liked, whereas there are some lovely HP tattoos out there.I'm actually thinking of getting one BUT I can't tell you what it is because it doesn't show up until the 7th book!!

toooldforthis wrote:Since I've just started PoA and have been reintroduced to just how horrible the Dursley's are, I must reiterate how confused and annoyed I am at the Hogwart's staff, particularly Dumbledore and Hagrid.

They must know how awful the Dursley's are, yet they continue to send Harry back there for summer break. At the very least, couldn't he stay with Hagrid?

I like this. At least now I don't feel like I asked a stupid question that everyone is overlooking because it's so ridiculous.

Having said that about the Dursley's, is it wrong that I did laugh at some things they did? I felt like it might be inappropriate, but I actually laughed out loud when Uncle Vernon told Aunt Marge that Harry attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. I don't know why, but it just struck me as funny.

I did like the fact that Harry was a little feisty with the Dursley's. Despite spending all of his life under their control, it's nice to see that he's not afraid to speak up and he gets some good come backs and one-liners in on them.

And why do I get the feeling that there may be more to Sirius Black than what we're being told. . . . . . . . am I killing you yet, Jodie

Pretty sure Jodie has been killed ... and I'm next on the list! I WANT TO TELL YOU THINGS!!! LOL.

I like this. At least now I don't feel like I asked a stupid question that everyone is overlooking because it's so ridiculous.

Having said that about the Dursley's, is it wrong that I did laugh at some things they did? I felt like it might be inappropriate, but I actually laughed out loud when Uncle Vernon told Aunt Marge that Harry attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. I don't know why, but it just struck me as funny.

I did like the fact that Harry was a little feisty with the Dursley's. Despite spending all of his life under their control, it's nice to see that he's not afraid to speak up and he gets some good come backs and one-liners in on them.

And why do I get the feeling that there may be more to Sirius Black than what we're being told. . . . . . . . am I killing you yet, Jodie

Pretty sure Jodie has been killed ... and I'm next on the list! I WANT TO TELL YOU THINGS!!! LOL.[/quote]Trust me, it's killing me too! I WANT YOU TO TELL ME THINGS! I'll just have to read faster.